An ambulance for the Yuletide season?

Chief medical officer for Clarendon, Dr Kimberly Scarlett Campbell, made an impassioned appeal during her report at the monthly sitting of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation recently.

Reaching out to corporate Jamaica, Campbell said she would love if the Chapelton Hospital could receive an ambulance as a gift.

"I am hoping that in terms of the spirit of benevolence some corporate sponsors would come in and try to donate an ambulance to the Chapelton Community Hospital," she said.

Last month, Campbell informed the council that both ambulances at the hospital were down - one got damaged during the October 1 flood rains in the parish while the other was damage in a motor vehicle accident.

She also used the opportunity to caution persons with serious illnesses not to visit Chapelton Hospital, but to instead head straight to the hospital in May Pen or Lionel Town.

"We don't have any ambulances there. We have fixed operating hours and we don't have a ward, so if you are seriously ill, you need to go straight to May Pen," Campbell stressed, pointing out that there have been times when persons visit Chapelton Hospital expecting full service, which only left the hospital with the challenge of getting them transported elsewhere.

"We have to wait for an ambulance to come from Lionel Town, May Pen or Mandeville to transport them," she said.